C4D: UI Exploration (download)

I recently worked on a project that involved an App UI.
While working on it I had an idea on how to animate a selector going through the tiles and highlighting them.

The The Selector Null is moved with the magic of xpresso to a specific clone. All keyframes are "step" keyframes and the delay comes from the delay effector set to "blend". The pop out Animation is triggered through a plain effector (move in z and scale) and handled with a Filed linked to a Selector Null.

This was more a proof of concept. The animation wasn’t needed in the end so I did not develop it further. Someone might find this useful.

The method for this came from this cineversity tutorial by Donovan Keith.

New Zealand 2015

We went on an epic adventure earlier this year. 3 weeks travelling through the north and south island of New Zealand. We visited amazing places, travelled lonely roads, slept next to lakes, oceans and eat so much good food. Talked for hours in the car, a thing you barely have time when you're at home doing your thing. Met new faces and saw old friends. And found out we are pregnant and slowly realising what that means for us.

Such a happy place.

VSCO Grid.

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My "go-to" app on the iPhone/Andriod for photos is VSCO Cam. I am using it since it launched. And I love it. It didn't take me too long to get used to the interface and it soon moved all the way to the first homescreen of my phone.

Well crafted filters and editing modes make it heaps of fun to play around with the snapshots I take during the day. I barely use Instagram's filters anymore. I just use it for the community and social aspect. Although they introduced "The Grid" and updated it not too long ago, its not quite there yet. Have a go if you havent checked it out yet. 

And lets be friends.

NYC & Germany: Photo Journal

I recently went on a trip to New York City (my first time) and my old home Bochum in good old germany. It was a blast. Too much food, way too much beer and heaps of fun.

I took my Canon 6D and shoot a bunch of photos and videos but today I wanted to share the photos shot exclusively with my Nexus 5 & VSCO cam.

Inspiration: The Great Abyss, Childish Gambino & Conrad Ostwald

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I love the voice-over, camera work and the grading. Lovely piece of work.

 

Again a really nice grade and amazing camera work.

 

Conrad Ostwald made another epic reel. Music and visuals just work together. Smooth transitions between shots and the great work make this to one of the best reels I have seen this year. Even his 2008 reel is still in my inspiration folder.

My current Hackintosh.

A few words upfront

This is my second hackintosh. I have build it in november 2012 but only found time to put this article together now. So be aware that the hardware is not top of the range anymore.

I had some good experience with the first hackintosh, that's why I am choosing this option again. The main reason I am not buying an iMac or Mac Pro is the price and not be able to expand as much as I like. I had an iMac before. Loved it but I don’t want several external Hard drives sitting on my desk or invest in an external thunderbolt enclosure to upgrade the gfx card. I am not using it as my main everyday working machine to earn money which makes it a bit easier to experiment with things and not losing valuable hours when the hardware plays up.

I had a good look around tonymacx86.com before I even began to think about my build. It is my second hackintosh and I really wanted something that is easy to install and maintain but also has some power for graphics work and 3D rendering. 
I tried to pick popular hardware so if there is a problem somewhere down the road there are potentially some people that can help out. 

This is the hardware I choose

1 x Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H Z77 
1 x Intel I7 3770K IVY BRIDGE CPU : Core i7 Processor, 3770K 3.5GHz, Quad Core
1 x Gigabyte GV-N670OC-2GD GF GTX 670 OC EDITION PCI-E 3.0 2GB
1 x Corsair AX-850 ATX Power Supply
2 x G.Skill F3-1600C9D-16GXM DDR3-1600 16GB Dual Channel

1 x TP-Link TL-WDN4800 450Mbps Wireless N Dual Band PCI-Express Adapter
1 x CoolerMaster HYPER-212-EVO Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler
1 x Fractal Design CASE-FDR4B Define R4 USB3.0 Mid Tower Case Black
1 x OCZ AGT4-25SAT3-128G SSD 128G

Hard drives

I had 2 HDD with 1TB and 500GB plus a 128BG SSD and I just bought a new 2TB WD Black.
That leaves me with 3.5 TB on moving HDD and 2x 128 SSD.
The SSD with the OS installed gets backed up manually to the second SSD. So whenever something happened I still have a working operating system.

Backing Up

I have a Time Capsule at home with an external WD Element 2TB drive. I use Time Machine to make a constant backup of my stuff. Most important my photos and some work you can never get back.
I do another back up onto a second 3TB hard drive with Carbon Copy Cloner. This backup is File Vault 2 encrypted so I can take it to work and leave it in my desk. Because of that encryption no one can read that hard drive but I have a copy safe somewhere if my house gets robbed or burns down etc. 

Speed

For all the geeks out there: 
Geekbench 13505 (32-bit) 15141 (64-bit)
Cinebench R15 CPU 683cb GPU 60.43fps

The cpu I picked is apparently quite easy to over clock. I should be able to get 4GHz out of it with the cooler I got but I haven't tested it out at all.
The main speed bump is the SSD. If you're still not using an SSD you really should upgrade. Now.

Some Issues

I had some issues with the build. I couldn't figure out what it was. Sleep worked but I couldn't wake it up again. It took me quite a while to figure out that the Power Supply Unit was damaged. I connected an older unit I had lying around and all of the sudden the problems went away. I guess the problem was quite unique but my point is that if you go and buy a Hackintosh you might run into a situation where you have to figure out stuff like this on your own just because there is not one company behind the hard- and software to help you out. Either you do it all by yourself or find a trustworthy PC shop that will act as your Apple Store.

Desk

Two weeks ago I finally got a new desk. Nothing too fancy. I love it though because it wasn't too expensive and the legs have storage space for some books/toys/things. I was even lucky enough to be able to put my hackintosh into the right leg. I did not use the shelf and turned the leg around to hide the computer. There is an opening in the back so it doesn't get too hot and two openings on the front side so I can use the USB panels and headphone jack on top of the tower.

Conclusion

I am really happy with my computer. It has its flaws here and there but that's half the fun. Being able to upgrade it with more HDD is fantastic and I still have room to overclock the CPU if I want to start experimenting again. Running Windows on the 500GB hard drive as a dual boot allows me to play Battlefield 4 if I am in the mood.

Although I wouldn't recommend it to someone who just wants a computer that works. You're probably better off with an iMac or if you need more power and can spare the money a new/used Mac Pro.

 

 

Random tips to follow or ignore

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These are some random tips I got from friends, colleagues, family, strangers and myself. Hard to always follow but I try.

  • Always have a backup. Better two. Especially work files and photos. You can buy your music or movies again but not the stuff you created yourself.
  • Try a simple wallpaper and clean up your files on the desktop.
  • Always be nice. Karma will get you.
  • Get organised.
  • Be structured.
  • It's not all about the money.
  • Stop drinking bad coffee.
  • Look at things differently.
  • Do all things with love.
  • Don't be afraid to fail.
  • Seriously: Get a backup.

Something to add?

Freebie: Ground Breaking in Cinema 4d

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I recently came across a question on MoStyle.tv Facebook page asking about breaking up the floor in Cinema 4D and let the pieces fly towards the sky.

This video was the reference:

My first thought was using thrausi to subdivide the floor and use two inheritance effectors to first move the floor up a bit as if it was breaking and then let the second inheritance effector move it towards the sky. I quickly put it together and posted it to the group.

It's not pretty but I wanted to see if its actually possible to do it that way. I didn't spend much time getting the timing or the animation right. Because Mostyle.tv is mostly in german I am gonna post my file here if anyone is interested in grabbing it.

If you have a different approach let us know.